Now furious American taxpayers are taking note of corporate tax avoidance – by defacing dollar bills. Stamp activism is a growing phenomenon, with photographs of the scrawled-on and rubber-stamped $1 notes spreading across social media.

"This is $1 more than GE has paid in taxes," says one message. Others deface George Washington with scrawled remarks from "This is $1 more than the Bandits of America (BOA) paid in taxes" to "Tax the rich, Save yo gramma". On another PhotoShopped note, "In God we trust" is changed to "In debt we trust". Occasionally the $1 protest veers off message: on one buck, "God" is replaced with "the Dude" after Jeff Bridges's stoner character in The Big Lebowski.

The protesters' facts are disputed – companies such as Exxon Mobil say they pay a lot of tax internationally as well as state and local taxes – and banks quickly withdraw graffiti-strewn notes (one protester pointed out it would be better to deface $5 notes as these tend to stay in circulation for longer). But stamp activism is likely to flourish as long as the marginalised majority is confronted by big companies paying much less than the standard 35% US corporate tax rate.

Will the protest spread to Britain? We have more than our fair share of bankers to bash and tax-avoiding corporations. Unfortunately, writing on bank notes is illegal. So every time you stamp "We're all in this together" or "In Fred the Shred we trust" on a fiver, be warned, you could be prosecuted and fined £200.